22 If you see your fellow Israelite’s ox or sheep wandering away, don’t ignore it. Take it back to its owner. 2 If the owner does not live close to you, or if you do not know who the owner is, take the animal home with you. Keep it until the owner comes looking for it; then give it back. 3 Do the same thing if you find a donkey or coat or anything someone lost. Don’t just ignore it.
4 If you see your fellow Israelite’s donkey or ox fallen on the road, don’t ignore it. Help the owner get it up.
5 A woman must not wear men’s clothes, and a man must not wear women’s clothes. The Lord your God hates anyone who does that.
6 If you find a bird’s nest by the road, either in a tree or on the ground, and the mother bird is sitting on the young birds or eggs, do not take the mother bird with the young birds. 7 You may take the young birds, but you must let the mother bird go free. Then things will go well for you, and you will live a long time.
8 When you build a new house, build a low wall around the edge of the roof so you will not be guilty if someone falls off the roof.
9 Don’t plant two different kinds of seeds in your vineyard. Otherwise, both crops will be ruined.
10 Don’t plow with an ox and a donkey tied together.
11 Don’t wear clothes made of wool and linen woven together.
12 Tie several pieces of thread together; then put these tassels on the four corners of your coat.
Marriage Laws
13 If a man marries a girl and has sexual relations with her but then decides he does not like her, 14 he might talk badly about her and give her a bad name. He might say, “I married this woman, but when I had sexual relations with her, I did not find that she was a virgin.” 15 Then the girl’s parents must bring proof that she was a virgin to the elders at the city gate. 16 The girl’s father will say to the elders, “I gave my daughter to this man to be his wife, but now he does not want her. 17 This man has told lies about my daughter. He has said, ‘I did not find your daughter to be a virgin,’ but here is the proof that my daughter was a virgin.” Then her parents are to show the sheet to the elders of the city, 18 and the elders must take the man and punish him. 19 They must make him pay about two and one-half pounds of silver to the girl’s father, because the man has given an Israelite virgin a bad name. The girl will continue to be the man’s wife, and he may not divorce her as long as he lives.
20 But if the things the husband said about his wife are true, and there is no proof that she was a virgin, 21 the girl must be brought to the door of her father’s house. Then the men of the town must put her to death by throwing stones at her. She has done a disgraceful thing in Israel by having sexual relations before she was married. You must get rid of the evil among you.
22 If a man is found having sexual relations with another man’s wife, both the woman and the man who had sexual relations with her must die. Get rid of this evil from Israel.
23 If a man meets a virgin in a city and has sexual relations with her, but she is engaged to another man, 24 you must take both of them to the city gate and put them to death by throwing stones at them. Kill the girl, because she was in a city and did not scream for help. And kill the man for having sexual relations with another man’s wife. You must get rid of the evil among you.
25 But if a man meets an engaged girl out in the country and forces her to have sexual relations with him, only the man who had sexual relations with her must be put to death. 26 Don’t do anything to the girl, because she has not done a sin worthy of death. This is like the person who attacks and murders a neighbor; 27 the man found the engaged girl in the country and she screamed, but no one was there to save her.
28 If a man meets a virgin who is not engaged to be married and forces her to have sexual relations with him and people find out about it, 29 the man must pay the girl’s father about one and one-fourth pounds of silver. He must also marry the girl, because he has dishonored her, and he may never divorce her for as long as he lives.
30 A man must not marry his father’s wife; he must not dishonor his father in this way.
Footnotes
- 22:8
